No Take-home Of City Vehicles 5 Employees Lose Privileges

July 31, 1985|by BILL GERNERD, The Morning Call

A recently created Allentown committee examining vehicle use has revoked city car take-home privileges for five employees.

The Allentown Vehicle Utilization Committee, chaired by Joseph Harrison, city garage superintendent, determined there was no justification for 24-hour use of a city-owned vehicle by the five employees.

Harrison, however, not only declined to identify the five employees, but also declined to confirm such action had been taken.

The action, however, was confirmed by other City Hall sources, who said the five lost 24-hour use of a city car following the committee's review of all vehicles being taken home by employees after normal working hours. The sources would not identify the employees.

Harrison said there are about 30 vehicles being taken home.

The use of city vehicles after working hours was a first priority for the committee, which consists of two representatives each from the fire, police, administration and community development departments and four representatives from thepublic works department.

"We did not find a lot of abuse," said Harrison, who wouldn't elaborate.

The committee chairman said three of the several city bureaus have no employees taking city cars home "except in cases of emergencies where the employee must return to the job."

Harrison said that use of city vehicles after working hours had been at the discretion of bureau managers.

"It's now in the hands of the committee," he said. "We look at why the vehicle's being taken home and whether it is to the benefit of the city."

Harrison and Richard Lee, management services bureau director, said the committee's goal is to "oversee the entire fleet operation, with the number one priority being take-home vehicles."

Lee said the city can benefit in some instances from allowing a worker to take home a vehicle.

He said a water distribution employe on standby may take a truck home so that if a water main break occurs, the employee can be dispatched directly to the scene. The employee could not drive his personal vehicle to the scene because the tools for the job are in the truck.

"Since time is of the essence, it makes little sense to require the employee to drive his personal vehicle to the water plant, transfer to the city pickup truck and then go to the scene," said Lee.

"This same argument can be used for other emergency vehicles approved for take-home use."

Lee said the committee also will review all equipment purchase proposals to determine which have higher priority before they are included in the budget.

"We also will be looking at the possibility of vehicle under-utilization and whether pooling applications would be feasible as a means of improving utilization," said Lee,

Lee said an in-depth review of each vehicle in the city's fleet will be necessary before a decision is made to change usage policy.

Standardization, maintenance and special-purpose vehicles are among many topics the committee hopes to explore as it looks at vehicle use and fleet management.